A number of structures must be riveted and, indeed, some structures require hundreds or thousands of rivets to be installed. By way of example, a wing of an aircraft may require the installation of many rivets. In order to facilitate the installation of rivets, riveters have been developed that have first and second riveting assemblies that are positioned in alignment with one another proximate opposite surfaces of the structure, such as opposite surfaces of a wing. These riveters permit a rivet to be properly positioned and then installed and upset.
The installation and upsetting of a rivet may generate substantial force upon the riveter and may urge the first and second riveting assemblies positioned in alignment with one another proximate the opposite surfaces of the structure to be deflected away from the structure. Such deflection of the riveting assemblies may be deleterious in that their relative location with respect to the structure may be altered during the rivet installation process, thereby potentially causing the rivet to be mispositioned or misaligned. Additionally, the deflection of the riveter may cause the riveter to require maintenance sooner or more frequently than is desired and may sometimes shorten its useful life.
As such, riveters have been developed that are substantial in size and weight in order to withstand the deflection forces created during the riveting process. While these more substantial riveters may generally maintain their relative position with respect to the structure in which a rivet is being installed, the size and weight of these riveters may limit their mobility or portability. Thus, these more substantial riveters are oftentimes stationary such that the structure to be riveted, such as a wing, must be moved into alignment with the riveter and then repeatedly repositioned with respect to the riveter as each rivet is installed and upset. This process of positioning and then repositioning a structure, such as a wing, relative to the riveter may limit the flexibility of the manufacturing process by requiring the riveter to remain stationary and by correspondingly requiring the structure to be riveted to be carried by a material handling system that is sufficiently sophisticated to controllably position the structure, such as a relatively large structure such as a wing, in a number of relatively precise positions with respect to the riveter.